CCOC in two COC productions this spring

Canadian Children's Opera Company

to appear with the

Canadian Opera Company this Spring!

The Canadian Children's Opera Company (CCOC) has already enjoyed a very full 2008/09 season. In addition to a number of Christmas concerts and their own production of A Dickens of a Christmas at the Enwave Theatre, they also participated in three Toronto Symphony Orchestra concerts. And they are just getting started . . .

Next on the schedule for these tremendously busy and talented young singers are two productions with the Canadian Opera Company: Giacomo Puccini's La bohˆ®me, which will run from April 17 to May 24, and Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, playing from May 5 to 23. Both productions take place at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

Puccini's ever-popular La bohˆ®me is a staple for every opera company and is one of the most frequently performed operas in the world. Twenty of the CCOC choristers will make their appearance in Act 2, as a great crowd gathers and the children clamour to see the wares of Parpignol, the toy seller.

Adapted from Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, the opera of the same name is perhaps Britten's most enchanting work. It is full of beautifully crafted, dreamlike and atmospheric music. The chorus of 20 fairies, all of whom will be supplied by the CCOC, has a huge part in this opera, appearing at the very beginning during the opening scene, all the way until the very end. Four choristers will also have solo parts (Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed, and Peaseblossom) and play musical instruments (2 recorders, woodblocks, and cymbals) on stage.

Being a part of the CCOC requires enormous commitment from the young singers, but nothing can compare to the thrill of being on stage for a major, full-scale production!

The Canadian Children's Opera Company, led by Artistic Director Ann Cooper Gay, is one of the world's few children's opera companies. The CCOC commissions, produces, records, and tours new operas and choral music, with children as principal performers. The company also regularly collaborates with other leading arts organizations and prominent individual performers, conductors, and directors. The Company contains six divisions, with over 200 children, and youth of ages 5 to 19. The newest division, OPERAtion Kids, is a non-auditioned program for ages 8-13.

Canadian Children's Opera Company and the COC

La bohˆ®me - April 17 to May 24, 2009

A Midsummer Night's Dream - May 5 to May 23, 2009

Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

145 Queen Street West, Toronto

Tickets available online at www.coc.ca, by calling 416-363-8231,

or in person at the Four Seasons Centre Box Office

Special young people's tickets $30 to $109

(15 years of age or under, accompanied by and sitting next to an adult)

Beginning Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 10am, $20 tickets are available for patrons between the ages of 16 and 29 through the Opera for a New Age program

Valid photo ID is required upon pickup

Regular ticket prices range from $60 to $315

For more information, long on to www.canadianchildrensopera.com